Alongside the Federal Budget handed down this week, draft legislation to establish a News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) is available for consultation, with submissions closing on May 18.
The proposed legislation attempts to address issues in the existing News Media Bargaining Code which was allowing digital platforms like Meta and Google to remove news stories and providers.
Under this Incentive, digital platforms operating significant social media or search services are encouraged to do commercial deals with eligible news publishers, with offsets provided to reduce their liabilities.
If a platform chooses not to do any such deal then they will need to pay a charge as a proportion of their revenue, with those charges distributed back to the news media sector.
Stakeholders can have their say on how any money raised is distributed to the media sector. The draft legislation is here: https://consult.treasury.gov.au/c2026-763377
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:
“Journalists are the lifeblood of Australia’s media sector, playing a vital role in keeping communities informed about the news that matters to them.
Local news matters to local communities and these stories can’t be told without Australian journalists.
My Government will always back Australian journalists and Australian news.”
Tech companies have criticised the draft legislation, saying the tax is unnecessary and the exclusion of some others, like Microsoft, Snapchat and OpenAI unfair.
Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) CEO Jon Bisset too says that the NBI is the right idea with the wrong design:
“Making Google, Meta and TikTok pay for journalism they’ve profited from for years – that part is right.
But as drafted the package is flawed and encourages platforms to make deals with a few big media companies. This risks concentrating market power with large media players to the great disadvantage of small, independent publishers who serve local regional communities and diverse, underrepresented voices.
We need it to pass. We need it fixed first.”
Jon’s full response can be read here.
The consultation paper is available at www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say. Submissions close May 18, 2026.
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